Saturday, May 28, 2011

Most important part of the Vladek Filler case: the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine's ruling last year when it granted Filler a new trial

Vladek Filler was found not guilty on the charge of raping his wife, as we predicted. As important as this was for Mr. Filler, the more important part was the appellate court's ruling last year that gave Mr. Filler a new trial.

As Robert Franklin explained explained at the time: "[T]he appellate court agreed with Filler and the trial court that he should get another chance to prove his innocence. But it went further than the trial court saying that, in the new trial, Filler can bring in all of the evidence about the custody matter and the fact that none of the allegations had been made until custody became an issue. That’s obviously important to Vladek Filler, but, since it’s a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court, it’s also important to countless other men in Maine. No more will their criminal trials on allegations of domestic abuse be marred by their inability to adduce evidence that the charges arose in the course of child custody cases." See here: http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/?p=9950